Eshu's Daughter

Chapter 5 - The Jelly Bean Society

Devon came puffing across the platform, cheeks swelled out like balloons, face a boiled red that clashed badly with his lumpy orange sweater. "Keep away from my cat," he bellowed at her, snatching poor Merlin from beside Kit's feet and squeezing him tightly. With an angry hiss Merlin smacked Devon's face with a gray paw, claws retracted, unfortunately. Devon loosened his hold, but stared at Kit with a deadly look, seeming to blame her for the cat's retaliation.

"Never come near my cat again," Devon shouted, little gobs of spit flying from his lips. I'd have scratched him, Kit thought, disappointed at Merlin's restraint. She could feel every eye on her, taking in the scene unfolding before them. And there were three more animals yet to be claimed. Way to make a first impression. She prepared herself for even more shouting when the other pet owners reached her. She put a hand on Puck's carrying pouch to calm him, gently stroking until his growls became only muffled rumbles.

A girl around Kit's age with dimples winking in her cheeks arrived first. "Goodness," she said. "That boy doesn't like you very much, does he?" Her smile grew wider as she turned to watch Devon stomp into a train car, Merlin looking soulfully back at them over his shoulder. "He doesn't seem like much of a loss though. What an ugly jumper, I'd die of embarrassment if I had to wear something like that." She wrinkled her nose and gave a mock shudder before turning her smile on Kit again. "I'm Ver-"

"Naughty Fan!" A girl quite a few years older than Kit halted in front of them, some sort of badge with a giant P on it gleaming at her shoulder. The girl scooped up the calico cat and snuggled it against her, chastising the cat in a singsong language that Kit couldn't understand. The words sounded odd considering the girl's British accent, somehow clipped and fluidly graceful at the same time. Finally she looked up from the cat and stared at Kit, confused. "Are you carrying food in your pockets?" she asked.

"No. I don't know why your cat, or any of the others, ran over here. I'm very sorry." Kit felt as if her face would ignite any minute, it had grown so hot.

"It is okay. I am Minami, and this is Fan," the calico's owner said. "You are new to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, this is my first year–"

"Excuse me, but do you think I could have my owl back." Didn't anyone let you finish a sentence around here? Kit turned sharply, causing the owl in question to wobble slightly on her shoulder. She found herself looking back at a very handsome boy; he was tall with gorgeous dark hair and a certain way of carrying himself that made you want to stare for hours. Course he was a little old for her and she wasn't used to thinking of boys as anything other than pests, but, well... Kit realized she'd been staring rudely at the boy and blushed. He just smiled back as though used to girls making idiots of themselves in front of him.

"Oh yes, yes, I'm sorry. Please take him," Kit rushed to say. She turned her shoulder toward the boy and bent slightly so her hair fell forward, hiding her still burning cheeks. He looked at her curiously and held up an arm to the owl, saying, "Let's go, Kahn." Without any hesitation the owl clambered onto his forearm, the ruffling of wings loud in Kit's ear. The boy nodded to Kit with a polite smile and swept away, setting the owl back on top of his trunk before wheeling his cart farther down the platform.

Kit dragged her eyes away from his retreating back, and turned to the two remaining girls. Minami smiled at her, snuggling Fan in her arms. "Fan does not like many people. I think you must be a good person if she is so friendly to you. I hope that you will enjoy Hogwarts, it is a good school," she said, voice oddly formal. With a final smile for both Kit and the other girl, Minami walked back to her cart.

"Well at least there's been some excitement this morning. My mum dropped me off early and it's been very boring waiting here. It's my first year, too. I'm Verity by the way, Verity Tilton. And that lazy creature at your feet is Zephyr," the other girl said, nodding her head toward a massive black cat still sitting beside Kit. Zephyr yawned widely and slumped down to lean against Kit, his yellow eyes falling to half-mast.

Verity laughed, "I'm surprised he found the energy to dash over here – that's the most exercise he's had in a year. Sleeps most of the day. He's a dear though." She smiled fondly at the cat and then looked back up at Kit. "What's your name, by the way, now that Zephyr and I have been introduced?"

"Kit Ellsington," Kit said. "You aren't upset that he ... uh ... ran over here?"

"Well no, I mean it's odd and all, but well, if Fan likes you then you must be OK, right?" Verity said, laughing so that the dimples in her cheeks stood out, two tiny dents in an otherwise round face. She was rather plain looking, but when she smiled, her whole face lit up. Kit couldn't help smiling back.

Aside from Devon, who seemed horrible by nature, that hadn't gone as badly as it might have. In the absence of more shouting, the rest of the students had lost interest in Kit and were once more engaged in hunting down friends and finding compartments. Puck was silent again, either ignoring the cat at her feet or unaware of it's continued presence. More likely however, he'd fallen back asleep. He had had a busy night mangling her shoelaces.

"Do you need some help onto the train?" Verity asked, looking at Kit's trunk.

"That would be great, yeah. My mom nearly threw out her back wrestling my trunk onto the cart. So I don't know if the two of us can manage it, but it's worth a try."

Verity picked Zephyr up and slung him over one shoulder; he cracked an eye and then went back to hanging limply, perfectly content to be lugged around like a sack of flour. Together Kit and Verity pushed the cart slowly toward the far end of the train, which was almost deserted.

"Where are you from?" Verity asked.

"My parents are in the U.S. military, so a bit of everywhere. My dad's stationed at R.A.F. Alconbury now."

Verity looked at Kit curiously. "I didn't think Hogwarts admitted foreign students. I mean, don't they have magical schools in America?"

Kit felt embarrassment sweep over her again. Was everyone going to be so hung up on her being American? "I don't really know. I assume there must be, but as I'm not in America now, I guess it's just easier for me attend Hogwarts. Maybe when my parents move again, I'll be transferred to an American school," Kit said, hoping that wouldn't happen for a very long time.

"Neither of your parents is magic?" Verity asked.

"Nope, and it was quite a shock for them to find out I was. They almost wouldn't let me come." Suddenly it dawned on Kit why she hadn't seen this girl at the orientation. "Are your parents magic then?" she asked.

"Oh yes, my mum is a writer and my dad works for the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. There was never any question of me going someplace other than Hogwarts. It's where both my parents went, and every generation of my family before them. We can trace our roots back to the druidess Cliodna," Verity said proudly.

Kit smiled at her, choosing not to say anything. Her parents never talked about family much because there just didn't seem to be any. Her grandparents had died before Kit was born and she'd never had any aunts or uncles. Not one stepsister or even a very distant five times removed cousin. No it had always been the three of them, and she was honest enough to admit she liked having her parents to herself.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Kit asked after a moment.

"Just one, she's two years younger. Luvena." Kit thought Verity sounded almost glum when she said her sister's name. Was she missing her already? Verity halted suddenly, and Kit realized they'd almost reached the end of the train.

"My luggage is already in this car, we can share a compartment if you like," Verity said, smiling again.

Together the two girls tried to lift the trunk, feet planted apart as they tugged at the leather handles. They managed to lift it all of two inches and dropped it back on the cart in defeat. "Did you pack boulders?" Verity said, panting. Her face was flushed and tiny beads of sweat stood out on her forehead as she leaned against the trunk. Kit could only shrug, "My mom went a bit overboard, tried to pack the whole house in case I needed it."

Verity shook her head, "Feels like she succeeded, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a sink in there. We're going to need help if we want to get this thing anywhere." She glanced around appraisingly. There were several likely looking boys nearby, and Kit wondered if Verity knew any of them. Before Verity could pounce on anyone, however, a voice spoke from behind them.

"Need some help there?" Kit spun around to find Spencer grinning at them. His sister stood beside him rolling her eyes at his cocky attitude. She shoved him out of the way and stepped forward.

"Ignore him, he just enjoys being a prat. If you need some help, however, he is good for a few things; like hauling heavy luggage." She turned back to shove her cat carrier into his stomach. With an 'oomph' Spencer took it, his grin faltering under his sister's glare. "If you drop Grizelle, I'll pour honey in your dresser drawer again," she murmured sweetly, stepping aside so he could move up the stairs. Spencer shrugged, a little twinkle still in his eye, and climbed into the train car. "You know, Ellie," he called over his shoulder, "I happen to like honey a great deal, and it just might liven up these boring black robes some."

Ellie 'hmphed', but a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She turned to Kit, "I remember you from the orientation, but I don't believe we've met properly. I'm Elspeth Thomas, and the prat is my brother, Spencer."

Kit giggled. "Kit Ellsington," she said holding out a hand. Ellie shook it and looked enquiringly at Verity. "Verity Tilton," she said with a smile and then gestured to the cat flung over her shoulder, "and this is Zephyr." Zephyr let out a little snore, the only indication he was in fact a cat and not a furry black stole.

Ellie glanced quickly away from the cat, seeming unsure what to say. "Do you always have such a weird affect on animals?" she asked Kit.

"Don't know. They just always seem to show up when I'm around. Guess they know I like them," Kit said with a shrug. She looked closely at Ellie, but she didn't seem to be put off by this. Kit held in a smile of relief. Maybe she really would be just another student at Hogwarts.

Spencer reappeared at the door. "Next?" he sighed dramatically, looking resigned. Ellie gestured to Kit's trunk, "Well you could be useful and help them with that. I'll take Aren in for you."

Spencer clambered down and grabbed one end of Kit's trunk, while she and Verity bent to grab the other, and together the three of them heaved it onto the train, Ellie right behind them carrying a slightly agitated Aren.

"My compartment's the second on your left," Verity said, pointing to an open partition just ahead of them. Once the trunk was settled, Ellie set down Aren's cage and looked around the compartment. It was large enough to comfortably seat the four of them but her cat carrier was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Grizelle?" Ellie asked, glaring at Spencer. He flung up his hands in exasperation.

"Well I didn't know you wanted this particular compartment, now did I? Contrary to popular belief, I cannot read your mind. " He prowled out of the compartment and returned a moment later with the cat carrier under one arm and dragging Ellie's trunk behind him. "Will there be anything else, Your Majesty," he said with a mocking bow, picking up Aren's cage.

"Aren't you going to stay with us?" Ellie said, frowning at him.

"As charming as the company is," he paused to look at Ellie as though he'd prefer sharing a compartment with an angry rhinoceros, "I'd rather explore the train then listen to you chatter like budgies about the latest hair bobbles." Before Ellie could respond to that little gibe, he disappeared out the compartment door.

Ellie looked somewhat disgruntled. "Stupid wally, he is such a boy!" she said, as if that was the worst thing she could think to label him. Settling onto a seat she looked at Kit and Verity sitting across from her, and her frown disappeared instantly.

"He won't forgive me for refusing to play his stupid games anymore. But I mean really, knights and dragons is for babies, and it's pretty boring always being the damsel in distress. Last summer he dumped me in a creek after rescuing me and ruined my brand new pinafore," she huffed.

Kit just goggled at her. She couldn't even imagine having someone to play with all the time. She tended to spend her summers chasing the local wildlife through parks and hiding in trees. And while there may have been knights and dragons in her fantasies, she certainly wasn't going to admit it right now and risk sounding like a child. She liked Ellie for some strange reason, even if she was a little testy and dressed perfectly again, in a smart blue-ruffled twin-set. Come to that, Verity was dressed quite prettily, too, in a lilac skirt and top. Kit tried to shove her shoes out of sight, hoping to hide the yellow ribbons tying them as well as their shoddy condition. Which, of course, drew Ellie's attention to them right away.

She stared down at them for a moment, eyebrows arching, and looked up at Kit questioningly. "Puck ate my shoelaces this morning. I had to use ribbon to tie my sneakers," Kit muttered.

"Who's Puck?" asked Verity.

Kit drew open the pouch at her hip and pulled the knarl out. He was curled in a sleepy ball but stretched and yawned, opening his little eyes to peer around. "This is Puck," Kit said, keeping a close eye on him, ready to grab him if he so much as twitched menacingly.

"Oh isn't he adorable," Ellie cooed, reaching out to rub the knarl under his little white chin; he put up with it, giving Kit a long suffering look. He didn't seem very fond of other people, and his look said very clearly he was only tolerating this for her. She grinned at him.

Verity bent to examine him closely, peering at his cunning little eyes and twitching nose. She sat back and gave Kit a strange look. "You do know that's not a hedgehog?" she said.

Ellie, still scratching under Puck's chin, looked at Verity. "He certainly seems like one to me, we have loads of them in our garden at home."

Verity shook her head and kept her eyes fixed on Kit waiting for an answer. "I know," Kit said, trying not to sound defensive. She had the sudden sinking feeling that Professor McGonagall might not appreciate her bringing a knarl into Hogwarts. She'd never stopped to ask the creature shop owner if knarls were allowed, she'd been too busy trying to save Puck's life. She wasn't giving him up, however. If there were any objections she'd just have to make them understand that Puck wasn't a danger to anyone.

"He's a knarl," Verity said, and it wasn't a question. Kit nodded anyway.

"What's a knarl?" Ellie asked.

"A characteristically foul-tempered creature, pretty well-known for mutilating gardens and biting people. They're very antisocial, even with wizards. I've never heard of one being kept as a pet." Ellie snatched her fingers back abruptly.

Kit slid Puck into his pouch and tried not to look offended. "Puck wouldn't hurt a fly, he's very loving." She determinedly squashed the mental picture that had just formed in her head of his antics at the creature shop. He'd been afraid of that woman or he never would have acted like that, she reasoned.

Verity looked at her skeptically but chose not to say anything. Just then the train lurched into motion. Looking out the window Kit saw the station falling behind them. We're on our way, she thought, with a little thrill of excitement.

"So what house are you hoping to be in Elspeth?" Verity asked.

"It's just Ellie, Elspeth sounds just like my grandmother," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not familiar with any houses so I couldn't say."

"Are you a Muggle-born too?" Verity asked.

"What's a Muggle?" Ellie asked.

"'Muggle' is the wizarding word for someone that's not magic. Being Muggle-born means that your parents aren't a witch and wizard."

"Oh, well then yes, I am. Is that bad?" Ellie asked, a tiny frown scrunching her forehead.

"Well no, there are lots of witches and wizards with Muggle parents, but some people don't like Muggles very much. They don't think Muggle-borns should be allowed to study magic," Verity said.

Ellie looked like she desperately wanted to ask what Verity thought but she asked instead, "So what are the houses you were asking about?"

"The school houses. There are four of them: Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff," Verity said, looking pleased at sharing something with them they didn't know. Although, really, Kit thought, there's plenty of stuff we don't know so I can't see why she'd be so happy.

"My mum was in Ravenclaw, and my dad was in Slytherin," Verity continued. "There's a lot of rivalry between the different houses and each one has something special about it. It's very important which house you get put in. I'm hoping to be in Ravenclaw, but Slytherin or Gryffindor wouldn't be bad either."

"What about Hufflepuff," Kit asked.

"Oh well that's just where you get sorted if you don't belong anywhere else. Dad says Hufflepuff is just a bunch of duffers. They never really do anything. He says they haven't won the house cup or the Quidditch cup in ages. Maybe a hundred years," she paused to look meaningfully at them. "I wouldn't want to be in that house, although I suppose it's better than not being in Hogwarts at all. Do you know there are some witches and wizards that can't even get into the school?" she paused to shake her head in disbelief.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and a girl with very bushy hair peeked her head into their compartment. She looked around quickly and then ducked back out without a word. They could hear her saying to someone in the hall, "They're not in there either."

"Shouldn't we ask if they've seen them?" said another voice. A moment later a girl with flaming red hair was standing in the doorway. She looked embarrassed to be interrupting them, but said anyway, "Excuse me, have you seen two boys pass by here? One of them has hair like mine and is tall and skinny, and the other is short with dark hair, wears round glasses and has a lightning scar on his forehead."

Verity choked. "Why are you asking?"

The bushy haired girl pushed forward impatiently. "Have you seen them or not?" she snapped.

"I think we'd notice if Harry Potter came waltzing through our compartment. We haven't seen him or the other boy you described," Verity said, glaring.

The girl nodded curtly and disappeared back through the door, tugging her red-haired companion behind her. "Where do you think they could be?" they heard her saying before her voice faded as they moved away.

"I wonder why they were looking for Harry Potter," Verity said, looking thoughtful as if this was some puzzle she could find the answer to if she just tried hard enough.

"Umm," ventured Kit, "who's Harry Potter, and why would it matter if they're looking for him?"

Verity launched into very long and detailed explanation about exactly why Harry Potter was important. Ellie interrupted her halfway through, "Hold on, you mean there are bad wizards. And they go around killing people? They never said anything about that in our orientation."

Verity looked impatient. "Of course there are bad wizards! Aren't there bad Muggles? What makes you think the magical world would be any different? And haven't you even opened any of your textbooks. I can guarantee there's a pile of information in A History of Magic. There might even be something vaguely useful amongst all that insipid fluff Lockhart's written."

"Well you can't have read them all either, if you're not even sure what's in them," Ellie said with a sniff.

"My mum says Gilderoy Lockhart is a pompous arse and gives writers everywhere a bad name. I don't have to read his books to know they're rubbish."

Kit thought this seemed a little harsh but decided to keep her own counsel and steer the conversation back to Voldemort. "Verity, why do people still call him You-Know-Who? If he's dead what would it matter? He's not gonna come back and haunt you, just cause you said his name."

"Nobody can prove that he's dead," Verity said. "He just vanished. Some people say he's still alive and hiding in another country til he can regain his power. I heard a rumor that he was actually at Hogwarts last year and Harry Potter faced him again and somehow survived. My dad won't tell me whether it's true or not but I think there's a chance it might be."

"Whoa, slow down there," Kit said throwing up her hands. "You're telling me that the magical world's version of Hitler was running loose in our school a year ago?"

It was Verity's turn to look confused. "Hitler?"

Kit and Ellie just stared at her dumbstruck. "Yeah, you know, Adolf Hitler, the root of all evil? Mass murderer of several million people?" Verity still looked lost. Finally Kit just shook her head saying, "Ok, you don't know our bad guys and we don't know yours. Hitler was this guy that tried to take over the world a long time ago and murdered a bunch of people. Kinda like your guy, but without the name censorship."

"Yeah, well at least we know for sure that Hitler's dead," Ellie said, eyes still wide.

"My mom definitely wouldn't have let me come if she'd realized there were dark wizards running around our school," Kit added.

Verity shook her head, "It's not like it happens all the time. This is magic, two sides to every whole and all that. Of course there are bad things, but there's lots of good ones, too. My mum says Hogwarts is the safest place in the world, it's better guarded than Gringotts even."

"Don't tell me they have goblins guarding the school. I don't want to go to class every day with one of those creatures leering at me," Kit said. Ellie looked vaguely ill at the thought.

"Don't be stupid, of course there aren't goblins at Hogwarts. But Albus Dumbledore is the Headmaster and he's the most powerful wizard ever. As long as he's in charge of Hogwarts, it's better protected than anywhere else."

"Obviously not, if You-Know-Who snuck in," Kit said, hoping it had only been a rumor.

Verity had just opened her mouth to respond when there was another knock at the compartment door and it was shoved open. This time it was an older boy with curly red hair, a very irritated expression, and a shiny badge like the one Minami had been wearing.

"Have you seen–" he began.

With a glance at his hair Verity cut him off, "No we haven't seen Harry Potter or your brother. But if I'm not mistaken, your sister was in here looking for them a while ago."

The boy nodded sharply and snapped the compartment door closed. A plaintive meow came from the cat carrier by Ellie, and she turned to it with a start. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot all about you, Grizelle," she said opening the front of the carrier.

Curious blue eyes looked around the compartment as Grizelle left the carrier. She looked as if she was ready to attend a masquerade, feathery white fur fanned out around her, and gray markings tipped up over each eye like a Mardi Gras mask. With a purr, Grizelle stretched and leapt onto the seat next to Kit, lying down to curl against her and knead her thigh.

Kit glanced at Ellie to find her looking startled, but not angry. She allowed herself to relax, stroking the cat and eliciting another contented purr. Kit was prepared when the jealous snarl came from Puck's pouch. She pulled him out and looked at him severely.

"I don't want anymore of your grouching," she said. "You are just going to have to get used to other animals coming around. I still love you best," she added, laughing at his disgruntled expression. She put him in her lap and he grudgingly ignored the cat, turning his prickly bottom to her before curling up to finish his nap.

Verity watched with interest, absent-mindedly prodding Zephyr so he'd stop snoring in her ear. "Animals really do like you a lot, don't they?" she asked.

"Yeah, they're much nicer than most people. My mom says even as a baby, animals were all over me. Literally. This one time when we were at the petting zoo she had to pull me out from under a pile of bunny rabbits. I'd crawled into the pen with them, and next thing you knew it was nothing but fluffy tails and long ears everywhere," Kit said, laughing.

Verity nodded looking thoughtful. "So is it only the cute, furry ones that follow you around?"

Kit's smile faded and she gave a small shudder. "No, I've had to chase bats and snakes and stuff like that out of my room loads of times."

"Should make life interesting for your housemates," Verity said. Kit couldn't tell if she was joking.

"Where are you from, Ellie," Kit asked hoping to change the subject. Soon the three of them were discussing the differences in how they'd grown up and their favorite books and music. Kit and Ellie discovered they had a great deal in common, not the least of which was being completely confused by everything Verity tried to describe. It was going to take a while to get used to the magical world.

***

Later in the afternoon, a smiling woman arrived with a cart full of food and asked if they'd like anything. Verity picked out a few items and pointed out suggestions to Kit and Ellie. Kit bought a large box of jelly beans, although she was rather suspicious of the smile lurking in Verity's eyes when she recommended them. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans read the box, and there seemed to be every possible color of jelly bean inside. Kit also bought a glass of pumpkin juice, though she didn't actually expect to enjoy it. Still, you had to try new things.

She was pleasantly surprised to find that pumpkin juice tasted just like an orange sherbert, only less frothy. It was a good thing she liked the juice because she needed it after trying her first jelly bean. She spat the candy out, glaring at Verity. "That's disgusting! Why would you make a fish-flavored jelly bean?"

Verity couldn't answer, she was laughing so hard. Zephyr fell off her shoulder as she bent over gasping and wheezing for breath. The cat gave them a disgusted look and leapt to the opposite seat to curl up beside Ellie, who was also giggling madly. Her giggles ended abruptly when she tried a jelly bean that tasted like dirt, and she spent the next several minutes trying to scour the taste out of her mouth with a combination of pumpkin juice and licorice wands. It was definitely Kit's turn to laugh.

After that they had fun daring each other to try different colored jelly beans, giving whoops of laughter when the taster found some new atrocity and groans of envy at some of the more delicious flavors. "That one was cheesecake!"

Ellie amused the other two girls by swearing to enjoy the grass-flavored beans. "You can have them then," Verity said making a face.

"What, they're good. Don't tell me neither of you ate grass when you were little."

"Not enough to get a taste for it," Kit snickered.

"Maybe you're part sheep," Verity added, laughing. Ellie didn't find that particularly funny, and lobbed a jelly bean at Verity. What could Verity do? She grabbed a handful of beans and flung them back, candy bouncing off Ellie's head and hitting the window with a tiny plink. Kit was struck by one of the rogue beans and launched her own volley. In seconds they were engaged in an all-out jelly bean war, the air thick with tiny, oval missiles and shrieks of laughter. Grizelle dove back into her carrier for cover, Zephyr didn't crack an eye and Puck waddled around the floor gobbling up jelly beans as quickly as he could, seeming to enjoy them all.

"Stop that at once!" said a shocked voice from the door. It was the curly red-haired boy again. Ellie froze in mid throw, jelly beans trickling between her fingers. Kit wasn't as quick and she'd already released her handful before she could stop herself. She watched in horrified fascination as a particularly nasty green-colored one connected with the boy's glasses. His mouth tightened and a tiny tick began in one cheek. "Clean up this mess and try to act with the dignity befitting a Hogwarts student! As soon as you three are assigned to houses I will be deducting 10 points from each of you," he ground out. "We will be reaching the station soon, so change into your robes." With a last glare at them he shut the door with an offended click.

Chastened silence dominated the compartment until Ellie suddenly broke into repressed giggles. "The look on his face when you hit him with that jelly bean, Kit. I thought my sides would burst."

She leapt up and thrust out her chest, putting on a prim tone as she mimicked, "Try to act with the dignity befitting a Hogwarts student!"

Verity and Kit started laughing again. They fell onto their seat with their hands pressed over their mouths trying to hold the noise in. Ellie was looking very pleased with herself. She grinned at the two of them. When they were both wheezing and finally able to stand up again, they began to clean up the jelly beans Puck hadn't yet disposed of.

A voice rang out from overhead announcing that they would reach Hogwarts in five minutes and instructing them to leave their luggage on the train. Kit wondered for a second where the voice had come from, as there didn't seem to be a speaker anywhere in the room, but was distracted by a snuffly choking sound at her feet.

Kit scooped Puck up off the floor and tapped him gently in an effort to dislodge the offending... Eurgh, what was that? Reluctant to touch what was looking very much like a chewed up piece of cardboard, Kit kicked it swiftly into a corner, resolving to keep a closer eye on the knarl; he seemed to be developing some strange eating habits. She tucked Puck into his pouch and helped hunt down the last of the jelly beans. There suddenly seemed to be a great many of them.

When they'd finished, each girl rummaged in her trunk for a set of robes and her hat. "Umm Verity," Kit said, "what exactly do wizards and witches wear under their robes?"

Verity laughed. "Well mum says some people go starkers," she said. Ellie choked, looking horrified.

"You're joking," Kit burst out. "Not even underwear?"

"Nothing," said Verity, blushing. "But the rest of us usually wear something light like a t-shirt and trousers, or a skirt and top, or something."

"Guess we can just pull them on over what have on then," Kit said, ever practical. "It'll have to be just a t-shirt and pants for me. I haven't got any skirts."

Ellie was back to choking and Verity was laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes. Kit frowned at them, trying to understand how not owning a skirt was funny. It was okay for her friends to laugh with her, but this felt very much like they were laughing at her. She tried not to look to hurt.

Ellie recovered first, "I'm sorry, Kit, but you just said you'd only be wearing a t-shirt and your underwear. You might want to watch how you use the word pants. It doesn't exactly translate well," Ellie said still smiling. "We call them trousers."

Kit blushed and forgave them both; she'd have laughed as well. Still, she wondered how often she'd be embarrassing herself in the coming days. They pulled on their robes and helped one another adjust their hats. Ellie looked down at her robes in dismay.

"They're so shapeless," she said, pulling them close against her. "If I could just pull this in here and maybe tuck that seam in there they might look a little better."

Verity didn't seem at all concerned about her robes, but then she was probably used to wearing them, Kit thought. They did feel pretty comfortable; she might be able to get used to these. It was almost like wearing a dress but not quite. Still, it would be awful hard to climb a tree in this get-up. Not that she was planning on climbing any trees, but you never know.

Kit tied the straps to Puck's carrying pouch around her shoulders so the pouch fell loosely at her hip. The cats were hustled into their carriers, and Zephyr even managed a meorw of protest, although it was a very half-hearted one. He was back asleep in two seconds. Verity and Ellie decided to leave the carriers with their trunks, but Kit didn't trust Puck not to dismantle the train car if he was left on his own. It was a much better idea to keep him with her.

***

"Do people have friends outside their houses?" Ellie asked Verity. The three girls stood close together as they waited for Professor McGonagall to return and lead the first years into the great hall for the sorting.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it's that common. I mean the houses are competing, aren't they?" Verity said.

"What if we're not sorted into the same house," Kit said, trying to sound offhand, "will you still be talking to me in the morning?"

Ellie nodded fervently and Verity smiled at them both, nodding as well. "Let's promise to try to be friends no matter what house we're in," Ellie said. With more nods and a few murmurs they agreed. Kit fished a few stray jelly beans out of her robe pocket and passed one to each girl.

"We are all hereby members of The Jelly Bean Society," she said solemnly, glaring in mock anger at Ellie when she giggled. "Oh just shut up and eat your bean. The one who gets the worst flavor has to buy the next box for us to share."

They each popped a jelly bean in their mouth and chewed hesitantly. Ellie made a horrible face, swallowing hers quickly. "Haggis," she gasped.

"Toffee," Verity said with a chortle.

"Grass," Kit said, offering Ellie a commiserating look. "Guess you get the honors."

"Fine, I'd gladly have bought five boxes to have not had to experience that," Ellie agreed, eyes watering from the lingering effects of the jelly bean. "And I get to set our first rule. No boys in the society." She glared over Kit's shoulder, and Kit turned to see Spencer pointing at his sister, laughing at her sour expression with a group of boys across the chamber.

"Agreed," Verity said, "and we should have weekly meetings or something."

"Weekends would probably be best, we shouldn't have classes then. How about every Sunday? We can meet at lunch," Kit said. Verity and Ellie nodded. "Well then, that's settled, so even if we're in different houses we'll still be friends," Kit added, looking apprehensively at the door where Professor McGonagall had reappeared.

"Form a line and follow me," the professor said.